Watch Mark Hamill’s role right before he became Luke Skywalker

When people hear the name of Mark Hamill, they may instantly think of Luke Skywalker or the Joker in the Batman animated series. I’ll admit that I haven’t seen any of Mark Hamill’s performances before he did Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope… until now. This year marks Star Wars’ 40th anniversary, and it’s also the 40th anniversary for the Eight Is Enough TV series. In the pilot for Eight Is Enough, Hamill starred as David Bradford. As the oldest son, Hamill’s character contemplated whether he should move out of the house after a family disagreement.

And like the character, it turns out that Hamill wanted out of the fictional family to focus on that “little” space opera movie. He was replaced by Grant Goodeve in the coming 111 episodes.

There’s some good news. You can check out his performance in the rare clip from the Eight Is Enough pilot, “Never Try Eating Nectarines Since Juice May Dispense”, below:

The show follows a family with eight children. Tom Bradford, the father, worked for the Sacramento Register as a newspaper columnist. His wife Joan was responsible for taking care of the children. (Diana Hyland, the actress that played Joan, died five days after the second episode aired.)

What? That’s not enough for you?

Check out pre-Star Wars Mark Hamill on the Cosby Show (1970) when he was around 18 or 19. It’s a weird feeling to think that he would get bullied for defending poetry. Too bad he didn’t have the power of the Force with him. However, you can thank the galactic heavens that Bill Cosby was nearby to save the day.

Get ready for the return of Mark Hamill on the big screen when Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15, 2017. You can check out the recently-released trailer here.